Solidarity 067, 17 February 2005

By Bjarke Friborg, Red-Green Alliance On 8 February the Danish right wing government secured four more years in power. The Conservatives and the Liberal party, together with their far right support party Dansk Folkeparti, now hold 93 of the 179 mandates, or three more than needed to form a majority. On the other hand, the opposition bloc gained more votes and mandates than in 2001. The main beneficiary was the Social Liberal party (“the Radicals”), doubling its support to 10% in total and gaining eight new mandates — making their group the same size as the Conservatives. In the elections they...

Management of the Norwegian multinational Jotun in Turkey have sacked all 50 members of Petrol-Is union in an attempt to smash the organisation. Workers at the factory in Tekirdag near Istanbul have organised a picket line and refused to let anybody work inside. Ten new workers who were hired by the management stopped to work immediately after they were warned of the problem. The workers and Petrol-Is are asking Jotun to stop the union busting and to re-hire the dismissed workers. Send messages of support via LabourStart .

By Paul Hampton The Make Poverty History rally in Trafalgar Square on 3 February launched a year of campaigning on Africa. Make Poverty History is a coalition of over 200 charities, campaigns, trade unions and others that is calling for “trade justice, drop the debt and more and better aid”. The focus on Africa is important because the continent remains desperately poor. Despite over ten per cent of the world’s population living there, Africa is the only continent in the world where income per head has been in decline in the last twenty years and where nearly half its people live on less than...

By David Merhav Hardly anyone opposes Sharon’s disengagement plan in Israel. Opposition comes only from the right. Even the left of the Communist Party and the other Marxist, Trotskyist and anarchist groupings favour silence rather than sharp criticism. The truth is that most people in Israel and Palestine are completely tired of terror, counter-terror and the ongoing bloody warfare of Israelis against Palestinians, and Palestinians against Israelis. So many Israelis and Palestinians now let the leaders do everything they want or can in return for peace or a ceasefire. Whatever may be the...

by Angela Paton, Kilmarnock SSP conference delegate To judge by the Scottish Socialist Party’s annual conference, which took place in Perth on 12–13 February, the party, despite problems, continues to represent a level of organisation and a commitment to working-class politics that place it in a completely different category from Respect. There were about 300 delegates and 100 observers present; the SSP now has 3,000 members, but, with not all of them active, the bigger factions are able to dominate with relatively small numbers. The International Socialist Movement, a majority split from...

By Peter Hudis Few developments are changing the world more than China’s unprecedented economic growth. In 2004 industrial production increased 16%. This growth is no flash in the pan. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth in China averaged 8% a year since 1979. The strongest per capita Gross Domestic Product growth in the US for any 25-year period since 1830 was 4%. Nevertheless, this growth rests on shaky foundations. In 2004, 10,000 workers were killed in mining accidents — 85% of the number of deaths due to mining disasters in the world. Half of the deaths occurred in the coal...

The initial results of Iraq’s 30 January election show a triumph for the Shia alliance. It won 48% of the vote, an extraordinary result for a formation limited to 60% of the electorate. The Kurdish alliance got 26%, so 74% of the votes were more or less straight communal headcount. The party of Iyad Allawi, prime minister of the Interim Government, got 14%, a low figure considering its ample funds. Very few Sunni Arabs voted. "Iraqis", the party of the Sunni president of the Interim Government, Ghazi al-Yawar, got 1.7% of the vote (probably five seats). Adnan Pachachi’s more secular Sunni list...

Fifteen years ago I went to see a production of Arthur Miller’s “The Price” at the Young Vic Theatre in London, where David Thacker was directing a number of Miller’s plays. At a time when Miller seemed to have been sidelined in his own country, his importance as a playwright of international standing was re-asserted on the English stage. In discussion with David Thacker before the play, Miller read part of the opening scene of perhaps his most famous work, “Death of a Salesman”. In Miller’s performance the opening of his modern tragedy became a scene full of comedy and laughter. Listening, it...

At the end of the TUC Iraq solidarity conference on 14 February, a group of trade unionists got together to set up an unofficial grassroots Iraq Unions Solidarity network. From the platform of the conference itself, TUC international officer Owen Tudor had welcomed the initiative. The TUC can do many things, he said, but not grassroots network-building. The new network will work with and seek to complement the official TUC Iraq solidarity committee. It will not compete or seek to claim any official status. What it will do, though, is provide a forum accessible to every active and interested...